Page 31 of The Layover
But Gemma reaches over, places her hand on mine, and squeezes tight.
‘Oh, sweetie, no. Oh, no,’ she says, and she sounds as concerned as she looks. Pained, almost. ‘He’s breadcrumbing you.’
‘What?’
‘I don’t think I want to google that,’ Leon mutters.
Gemmatsks, and the table jostles a little as she kicks him lightly. ‘It’s not a sex thing, you pervert. It’s a boy thing. A dating thing. When people do the absolute bare minimum and sprinkle injustenough effort and flirting to make you think they’re interested, when all they’re doing is stringing you along. Because the attention makes them feel good, or they enjoy having this weird power over your emotions, or they’re just dickheads. Whatever. Girl, youcannotbe this blind. Are you seriously going to break up a wedding because a guy is breadcrumbing you?’
‘He’s – he’s not doing that.’
She’s making assumptions. She doesn’t know. It’s just all so much more than I can put into words, that’s all.
She gives me a sad, sorry look. ‘Even if he’s not – but he is, believe me, I read those texts … Whatever weird little pseudo-romance the two of you have going on, I’mtelling you, he’s not in love with you.’
‘You don’t know what you’re talking about. You have no idea—’
Leon, to my surprise, is the one who interrupts.
And it’s in my favour, for once.
He tells Gemma, ‘Lay off her. If she thinks he’ll pick her over Kayleigh – let her go ahead. And if he doesn’t, well, fine. But at least Kay will still know what kind of man he is, and this can all be over.’
Gemma keeps her gaze on me for a moment, and bites the inside of her cheek, mulling over something. Whatever it is, she makes her mind up swiftly, and gives my hand another squeeze before drawing back to appraise Leon, eyes full of suspicion.
And – something clicks.
Something out of place and weird and so completely minuscule and forgettable is suddenly thrown into sharp relief, and I gasp.
‘You,’ I say to Leon. ‘You wanted to talk to Kayleigh. You had something important to chat to her about before the wedding.You were going to break up the wedding, too.’
Chapter Sixteen
Gemma
Stop. I cannot deal. This is all too much.
I definitely have unfinished business with darling Fran – I mean, God, the level of bullshit Marcus has been pulling to string her along all this time, to the point where she’s so convinced he’s in love with her that he’d ditch his own wedding to run off with her instead … She needs a reality check, yeah, but I think she also just needs someone to look her in the eye and tell her that she categorically deserves better.
Which, you know. Maybe she doesn’t? Admittedly, I don’t know her all that well, beyond the last couple of hours in this godforsaken airport halfway to Barcelona, and shehasbeen going after a man who’s engaged.
But this is Marcus we’re talking about, and I reckon this girl is every last bit as doe-eyed and naïve as she looks, and fell for it hook, line and sinker.
Either way, she needs someone to pull her out of that delusion.
Butnow,it turns out, she’s not the only one with a secret agenda.
Leon?
Quiet, unassuming Leon, the king of avoiding confrontation?
As if.
Obviously, also, there’s me andmyagenda, but they don’t need to know about that. Shit, if they want to take care of this, more power to them. I’ll stand by and watch as Kayleigh has to pick up the pieces.
Francesca is gawping at Leon, looking just a bit self-righteous (deservedly so, in my humble opinion, after he kind of laid into her), and when I swivel to him, he’s grouchy and defensive. Shuffling around in his seat and scowling at the table, staying completely mute.
The pair of them are as bad as each other. Doesn’t anybody learn to regulate their emotions and think about what they’re showing to the world? Aren’t they the tiniest bit concerned about at leasttryingnot to look so guilty?
